Indian Refiners Processed 2.8% Less Oil in October 2011, the 1st Decline since November 2010

According to government data released on 25 Novevember 2011, Indian refiners processed 2.8 percent less oil in October 2011 from a year ago, the first decline since November 2010. The country's crude oil output in October declined 0.9 percent to about 760000 bpd.

The annual rate of growth declined in October due to maintenance shutdown at refiners of Indian Oil Corp, Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals and Essar Oil. Units at IOC's 160000 Mathura plant in northern India were shut for maintenance in October 2011.

Refiners processed about 3.12 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil in october as against 3.10 million bpd in September, when crude processing was up an annual 4.4 percent. Output at Reliance's bigger 660000 bpd plant was up 9.6 percent in october. Reliance Industries, whose two refineries at Jamnagar in western Gujarat state account for about a third of India's refining capacity, does not report data for its 580000 bpd export-focused plant to the government.

The production of Essar Vadinar refinery, also in Gujarat, declined 79.4 percent. Essar shut its refinery in mid-September to raise capacity to 375000 bpd. The plant resumed operations on 24 Oct 2011 while a crude unit at MRPL's plant came back online in mid-October.

Natural gas output declined 7.4 percent to about 4.03 billion cubic metres in October from a year ago as production from the Reliance-operated D6 block in the east coast declined after touching about 60 million cubic metres per day in 2010.

However it must be noted that crude processing by the 120000 bpd Bina refinery in central India, which came onstream earlier in 2011 was not included in the government data. India, the world's fourth-biggest crude importer, produces only a fraction of its overall needs.

India's oil output is expected to rise an annual 1.3 percent to 763800 bpd in fiscal year 2011-12, while natural gas production is likely to move down to 51.68 billion cubic meters.